Costa, HugoLiang, DaweiMatos, AnaAlmeida, Joana2025-03-102025-03-102024-092304-6732PURE: 103519753PURE UUID: 22ac83cb-6bf8-485e-a054-38171adf69e4Scopus: 85205121141WOS: 001326108800001ORCID: /0000-0001-5890-7623/work/179773884http://hdl.handle.net/10362/180397© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.TEM00-mode operation is a requirement in many laser-based applications due to the small divergence and high-power density of the emitted laser beam. A solar laser scheme was designed and numerically studied with the goal of increasing the solar-to-laser power conversion efficiency in the TEM00-mode operation. The collection and primary concentration of sunlight was performed via twelve sets of folding mirrors and Fresnel lenses, toward a laser head composed of a fused silica torus volume and seven Ce:Nd:YAG rods, in a side-pump configuration. With this scheme, TEM00-mode laser power totaling 212.39 W could potentially be produced from seven beams, with six of them being 32.60 W each and with (Formula presented.) = 1.00, (Formula presented.) = 1.01 quality factors. Notably, 35.40 W/m2 collection efficiency and, most importantly, 3.73% solar-to-laser power conversion efficiency were numerically achieved. The latter efficiency value represents a 1.81-time improvement over the experimental record, established with a prototype that had a single Ce:Nd:YAG rod in an end-side pump configuration.3038570engCe:Nd:YAGFresnel lenssolar laserTEM modeAtomic and Molecular Physics, and OpticsInstrumentationRadiology Nuclear Medicine and imagingSDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energyjournal article10.3390/photonics11090889https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85205121141